DU Law Panel Discusses Difficulties of Environmental Regulation in the U.S.

The Office of Alumni and Development hosted an Environmental and Natural Resources Law event earlier this week. The free event, "Regulatory Challenges for Natural Resource Investors; Is the US Regulating Itself to Death?" was moderated by Don Smith, Director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program.

Norton, Gustafson, Smith and Oehlberg
pose for a picture after the event.

The panelists included former Secretary of the Interior, Gale Norton and current president of Norton Regulatory Strategies. Mike Gustafson, the University of Denver's Master Scholar for 2013 and president of Wesco Resources, Inc. Kurt Oehlberg the Managing Director of FBR Capital Markets Corp. in the Energy and Natural Resources Group. Chris Richardson the Managing Partner at Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP.

Each panelist offered insights particular to their experiences in the natural resources field. Norton opened the discussion by highlighting four key aspects to the success of environmental regulation: regulation stringency, predictability, timing and efficiency of the regulations and finally, the impact of public participation on the regulatory process. She highlighted the difficulties posed by the current regulatory environment which is costly and time consuming.

Gustafson shared his experience of regulations while working on the Tongue River Project, a Montana coal bed. He has been working to develop this resource for over 32 years and has worked with over 18 state and federal agencies. He highlighted the difficulty of actualizing resource development in the U.S.

Oehlberg spoke to the growing trend of large-scale NEPA processes necessary for natural resource development. He identified the U.S. natural resource development as a very challenging market in which to work. This is due to the growth of centralized regulations, contradicting regulations between the state and federal level and increased compliance costs. These factors are resulting in a decrease in investors.

Richardson then shared more information from the investor's perspective. He identified three common, current investors: the industry player, private equity investor, and private or government interest from overseas. He asked the question, the biggest impact on resource development is occurring through new regulations and not new legislation, is this constitutional?

All panelists pointed to the complicated regulatory environment as a problem for resource development. Norton advocated for a power shift toward local managers with a more informal management so that they are able to take advantage of local conditions and community resources. She stressed that federal regulations are often too rigid to accommodate local resource conditions.

The panelists offered a final tip to current students, "study Administrative Law."

Denver Considers Plastic Bag Fee and Meets Resistance

Plastic bag caught in a tree.
Photo Courtesy of Kate Ter Haar

On Tuesday, Denver city councilwoman, Debbie Ortega, proposed a plan to charge a 5-cent plastic bag fee. Her goal to shift behavior toward more sustainable practices met firm resistance from the grocery store industry.

The grocery store industry claims that the fee would put an undue cost burden on Denver stores. A few went on to argue that the fee was essentially a tax and should be places on the ballot per Colorado's Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR).

Every year, an estimated 130 million single-use bags are used within Denver. Households use on average of 7.6 bags per week, most of which end up littering the streets, or adding to landfill waste or worse, clogging waterways. To read more statistics about plastic bag consumption, visit Ortega's draft bill here.

The council committee will discuss the proposal next week and determine whether or not it should be presented to the whole council for vote. Boulder and Aspen have already implemented plastic bag fees and have not seen any harmful side effects.

Angelica Oman

Graduate Program Assistant

Welcome to the Fall 2013 Class!

Denver Law has welcomed its incoming Fall 2013 class into the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program. This year's incoming class represent over seven countries and each has impressed us with their backgrounds and interests.

The new students participated in an orientation program which featured Director Don Smith and Administrative Director Lucy Daberkow. Students were also introduced to Rosemary Dillon of the Academic Achievement Program as well as Ann Vessels, director of the Legal Externship Program.

Smith shared, "We strive to have a diverse group of students, both in terms of the U.S. and internationally, and I am delighted by this year's students. I have no doubt that they will excel in their academic careers."

The Denver Law ENRL LLM and Masters degree program is among the most diverse programs of its kind in the world, a point of particular interest for most students who apply to the Denver Law program.

Daberkow said, "Environmental, natural resources, and energy law in the 21st century raise issues and challenges within individual countries as well as across the world. Our wide curriculum of U.S.-focused and internationally-focused courses allows students to learn about a wide array of practices and helps prepare them for their future careers."

Welcome to Denver Law! 

"Garden of Eden" Receives Designation as National Park

The Mesopotamian Marshes in Iraq have widely been considered the location of the "Garden of Eden." Late last month, the Iraq Council of Ministers made history by designating the area as the nation's first national park.

Located in southern Iraq, the marshes were once the third largest wetlands in the world, but were devastated during the Gulf War in the 1990's. Saddam Hussein, then president, drained the area to less than 10% of its original size.

Satellite images of the marshes before and after being drained.

Efforts have been made to restore the marshlands since 2003. The designation as national park is hoped to offer continued support and motivation for restoring the area. The restoration of the marsh is hindered by the complex political pressures it faces as an integral water source.

Water politics in the region have been contentious, with countries upstream of Iraq restricting the water flows of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. However, Nature Iraq, a non-governmental organization which led the demand for national park designation, hopes to create water diversions to allow water to reenter the marshes.

Azzam Alwash, founder and President of the Board of Directors of Nature Iraq was quoted in a press release: “With this action, Iraq has acted to preserve the cradle of civilization.  It is now the duty of the world to help Iraq maintain these wetlands for the future generations by helping Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran to reach an equitable agreement on the sharing of the waters in the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates.”

Angelica Oman

Graduate Program Assitant

Denver Law Adjunct Professor Florencia Heredia Recognized by Who's Who Legal

Florencia Heredia

Denver Law Adjunct Professor Florencia Heredia, an attorney in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been recognized as the 2013 Mining Lawyer of the Year by Who's Who Legal.  Ms. Heredia has taught "Latin American Mining Law" at the Sturm College of Law.

In 1992, Ms. Heredia began her legal career with the Argentine firm of Estudio Beccar Varela. In 2008 she formed her own firm HOLT Abogados with three female partners.  As Ms. Heredia told Who's Who Legal, "It was a decision I had been thinking about for some time. Although I was at a great stage in my career at Beccar Varela, I decided it was time to follow a different path."

Holt Abogados is a boutique firm focusing on natural resources and environmental matters along with corporate, regulatory, and financial matters.

Ms. Heredia has served as a trustee with the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. She was recently elected to the position of secretary of the Foundation's Board of Directors.  She is currently senior vice-chair for the International Bar Association's Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law Mining Law Committee. 

Don Smith, Director of the ENRL Program said, "Florencia Heredia is an inspiration for all who meet her. She is smart, hard-working, energetic and above all highly respected by her colleagues.  She is, without question, one of the top mining law attorneys in the world, and her career should be an example to all about the success one can achieve through hard work and determination.  All of her friends at Denver Law are thrilled with this recognition."

Ms. Heredia and Luis Carlos Rodrigo, attorney with Rodrigo, Elias & Medrano Abogados in Lima, Peru, teamed up to teach Latin American Mining Law at Denver Law. 

Study Shows Colorado Benefits from DOI Operations

Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area
Photo Courtesy of DOI, Bureau of Land Management

The U.S. Department of the Interior released an Economic Report detailing the real economic benefits created by our public lands and protected spaces in 2012.  Since much of the land the department manages is in the west, Colorado receives many of the associated economic benefits.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell stated, “The missions of the Department of the Interior contribute to our nation’s economy in ways big and small. From the billions in revenues generated from oil and gas development, to the jobs created from tourism to our national parks and public lands, Interior’s activities are an important source of business development and employment for communities and families in all 50 states,”

The Economic Report has been prepared annually since 2009 by the Interior’s Office of Policy Analysis. This office estimates the economic contributions of the department, which include land and water management, energy and mineral development, outdoor recreation and tourism, conservation, hunting and fishing,  and scientific research and innovation.

The report outlines these economic benefits by state. In Colorado, the Department of the Interior contributed to approximately 60,600 jobs, and was the source of 17,823,508 recreational visits. The report concludes that the DOI had a $10.5 billion impact on Colorado’s economy in 2012.

To access the full report, click here.

Angelica Oman

Graduate Program Assistant

Conservation Groups Challenge BLM in Court

Colorado BLM Field Offices
Photo courtesy of the BLM.

A coalition of seven conservation groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday in federal court in Denver. The groups are challenging the Bureau of Land Management's decision to allocate over 800,000 acres of federal land within the Rocky Mountains for oil shale and tar sands development.
 
The BLM had amended 10 resource management plans in March, which opened 687,600 acres open for oil shale leasing and 132,100 acres for tar sands leasing within the public lands of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. The agency did not undergo formal consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as required by the Endangered Species Act.

The lawsuit claims the the BLM's allocation of land violates the Endangered Species Act. The conservation groups claim that the BLM failed to fulfill its obligations by foregoing formal consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, the lawsuit claims that the BLM failed to consider the impacts that widespread development would have upon desert plants and threatened species.

The lawsuit was filed by the following conservation groups: Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Trust, Living Rivers, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Rocky Mountain Wild, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and the Center for Biological Diversity

To access the lawsuit, visit this website.

Angelica Oman

Graduate Program Assistant